[Review] DialinFree – MI Free Dial Up Internet Service

Every year we go upnorth for New Years and with a bunch of friends in the summer for vacation. One thing that is lacking is an internet connection, being wired is essential.

In the past we have had the luxury of using free dial up service through Wayne State University and MichNet. MichNet unfortunately discontinued the service two years ago. Last year I just signed up with NetZero. It worked but was kinda clunky, they are a needy ISP (requires software and ad bar) and eventually would not leave me alone for quitting. The connection speed was not too hot either, sometimes dropping down to 14.4 KB/sec.

This year I went out to find a free service and stumbled upon http://dialinfree.net/ which claims to be “Michigan’s only free unlimited dialup service!” They also don’t ask for anything besides an email address and a zip code. Asking around online I could not confirm if the service was legit. So I decided to give them a try and let you know my experience in hopes to demistify the DialinFree service.

First Time Use

The first time connection it was super simple, just put in the phone number, email and password into the regular connection screens on OS X, there is no need to install additional software. It dialed up, got the great connection noise and we were off and running.

Just as a test I decided to pint Google to see how fast the response was. Not too bad, No lost packets and 226 ms avg connection time.

Next I wanted to checkout the download rate so I began downloading a medium sized PDF and the download topped out at 5.5 KB/sec. Not too bad for dial up.

Issues

So after being connected for a few hours the first two days (I think we were online for 7+ hours) the third day connecting we ran into an issue. It would dial, connect and get stuck on the Authentication. After about 2 minutes of waiting it would just disconnect.

But after waiting an hour it started working again. We did get the error randomly after that but we could just try it again and it would work. Not sure why it was happening but it seemed to be on there end.

Overall

If you are looking for a truly free dial up internet service without a hassle in Michigan this is the one for you. They don’t require any special software, no credit card information or even personal information. They do ask that you use their homepage and run your Google searches through them when connected but it is not a requirement.

By far this is the best dial up service I have used next to MichNet. It was fast (although you are still on dial up), they have a ton of access numbers and they did not require ANY personal information to start up. It never disconnected us and the only issue was at initial connection as mentioned above.

They also have a spot where you can donate money to keep the service alive. I recommend even if you use the service just once to compensate them for your use, keep this service alive and others will thank you.

Believe it when I say that Dial In Free (http://www.dialinfree.net) is the real deal. I was a little skeptical at first, wondering what strings were attached. The only real “string” is that if you need technical support, there is a five dollar charge. However, the setup is so simple that unless you really don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll never encounter a charge. All you need to do is get your local number, create a dialer, and boom, free internet. The only drawback is, Dial in Free is only available in the 231, 616, and 269 area codes.

thanks for mentioning you need a HOUSE PHONE… got all excited for nothing… i don’t have home phone service… so this is useless. unless you know a way around that… maybe ask my old company just to turn on the phone jack for this?

I LOVE THIS! I have been using it for about 2 months and sent in a “donation” so that it can remain free.
Only problem I have is that for the first time this morning, I am getting a message that I cannot connect (terminated by the remote computer.The connect was not made in a timely manner). So I had to drive somewhere to get internet access.

I am having a BIG problem with the dial up, it tends to shut down a lot when i am using it. Making it very hard to communicate with my employer. I end up having to go to the library to use the computer there. Such an inconvenience. Hope there is something that can rectify this. It can be very expensive for internet, and as you know, people are trying to save money any way they can. So i appreciate the free internet, it is very hard not to get angry at it. Thank you.

hi, I’ve milked netzero and juno for years now but starting back around november (2012), they both went kaput. this despite multiple reinstalls, new hardware, even a win8 upgrade. i spent 2 full months trying to debug; finally gave up defeated.

so this was a lifesaver. i’m in a totally diff state, but by some quirk our landline has free nationwide 24/7. after much googling, my choices were this one out of MI, and dialinFORfree (out of CA, I think). needless to say this one has worked so well, I never got around to trying the other one.

i do get “lockout” problems every so often — maybe 12 hr stretch like once/week. I dunno if it’s just maintenance on their end or what — they could give a better error msg than just “ID/PW failed” or w/e. but overall, i can’t complain.

still…I intend to try that other one SOME time. if nothing else, would be useful for those 12 hr stretches. anyone (incl nick) have any experience with it? dialinforfree.com

thanks

oh, and btw, u don’t even need that initial step of providing an email ID. dialer lets you use “guest” from the gitgo, so there was no back-and-forth of receiving an access code or anything.

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btw, what’s “julia” (not me) up there talking about? how was she expecting to “dial” up anywhere w/o a landline?

u want free wifi, that’s another matter. but I think the term DIAL-UP is pretty self-explanatory!